"Rulers have always taken care to control the education of the people. They know their power is based almost entirely on the school and they insist on retaining their monopoly. The school is an instrument of domination in the hands of the ruling class." - Anarchy: A Graphic Guide, p. 100

ARLINGTON - Evidence abounds to indicate the United States is lagging behind other advanced-industrial nations in educational achievement, despite massive infusions of resources in technological, science and math education. Over the past decade, the country has resorted to standardized testing and fact-based education to ensure children learn basic math, reading and writing skills.

But University of Texas at Arlington Sociology Professors Ben Agger and Beth Anne Shelton, say the problem of ineffective education cannot be remedied by more math courses and rounds of educational testing. Agger and Shelton, co-authors of a book titled, "I Hate School: Why American Kids are Turned Off Learning," contend that by the time American students are in junior high and high school, they hate school and cannot wait to finish an acceptable terminal level of education and establish careers and families, mimicking the suburban lifestyles of their parents.

"They are anti-intellectual," Agger said. "Instead of reading, they are passive consumers of electronic entertainment. They don't watch the news or follow politics. They are immersed in the instantaneity of now, experienced online."

Bookstores are declining, as are newspapers, and the sociologists fear the United States is producing a conformist, vacuous generation.

"Not because we have failed to invest sufficiently in education," Shelton said. "We are failing to spark the imagination of children to enable them to seek their muse and cherish the life of the mind."

The book looks at why kids learn to hate school and turn their back on intellectual and cultural pursuits, making a strong case that it is not enough to blame television and other distractions.

"Our schools are failing because they are warehouses and work houses. They verge on penal colonies, where teachers are wardens and children are inmates. Children constitute a pre-labor force, tasked with producing homework instead of goods and services," Shelton said.

While she admits that backpacks stuffed with homework certainly teach students the Puritan virtue of diligence, she says it also diverts them from intellectual and physical play.

Agger agrees, saying "School has become a job and childhood merely a preparation for busy adulthood."

The authors explore topics like time-use in schools; the confinement and physical disciplining of young bodies as they carry backpacks and sit at cramped desks; the stress on fine motor skills; the performance principle and grading; the performance principle and testing; the disunity of mind and body; vocationalism; a fetish of facts and factoids; rote learning and regurgitation; worksheet-driven learning; classroom authoritarianism and competitive school sports.

Committed to helping kids like school and love learning, Shelton and Agger consider alternative arrangements and styles of education, drawing on movements like anti-schooling, free schools and homeschooling. They analyze the school day and what happens at, and after, school. They look at curriculum, grading, testing, classroom teaching, discipline, the roles of play and exercise and even school food.

The sociologists, who are married to each other and parents themselves, assert it is not enough to tinker with curricula and teacher training. They see a need to start over, building from the ground up. In their ideal school, grading and testing would be minimized and teachers would not be cops or dictators. Schools would have fewer desks and more open space. Each day would start with an hour of exercise, not the dreaded rope climbing but sport as play, which would include teachers. Homework would be minimized, as real teaching and dialogue fill the day

Formulaic writing would be replaced by essaying, journaling and thought pieces. Standardized tests would be replaced with portfolios of best work and art. There would actually be more art and less math. And math would be taught philosophically, like science.

"The litmus test of all this is simple," Agger says. "Are kids excited to get up in the morning and go to school?"

The book is being published by Lexington, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, with the release date to be announced.

wowowow, it's so wonderful to see adults who really know what they're talking about and are willing to do something drastic about what they believe in. I hope they start a school for kids in their area somehow, that would be amazing.

school is the biggest waste of time. and lets say u were far behind and work piles up and ur finally done and then more comes and they dont wait for u. and if they talk to u in a voice thats for third graders, yell at them till they shut up

I agree its so hard to find adults who actually understand us! and UNderstand school is a bunch of bull shit I find no point to it at all and you know what I hate the most kids who are too afraid to say anything this America we should freedom of speech and the right say what we want and when we want if its reasonable

I just hate school in generall. Nobody wants to get up in the morning, Work our asses off and learn stupid shit we'll forget in a day...

I'm in school right now. We are supposed to be learning about how to measure stairs? The fuck? I- Nor anyone else want to be a carpenter. I want to be a nurse and as far as Im concerned they dont make nurses measure the staircase.

its not that i hate school im just hating the fact that its so long wasting my time during the day. plus during my long day at school i like using fame sites and now i cant because the schools block all of the proxies that allow me to do so. someone plz help me get around this?

and yes that has nothing to do with this "book" or w/e...i honestly dont give a shit i just dont wanna be bored anymore...the stuff they give me in school is so easy kinda to easy and they expect me to do it over and over again.....someone please comment on my comment if you understand what im talking about

2 March 2009 Comments:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------its not that i hate school im just hating the fact that its so long wasting my time during the day. plus during my long day at school i like using fame sites and now i cant because the schools block all of the proxies that allow me to do so. someone plz help me get around this?

Haha...Sorry...for some reason your post is kinda funny...but the proxy is very hard to get around because you need a teacher to help you get past it. And everyone knows that is suicide talking to those stupid bitches. I hope you ment "game" sites, and I found that I can find one game that works that has links to several other games. Search up Avalanche Game on Google and click on every link until you get to a jumping marshmallow game :P. The game is pretty fun when your at school and, there are links to a helicopter game and something else. It's what I do at school.

my son he 9..hate school.and home work..he has tutor on tusday...my son has meds..add...what can i do for him at this age...he can be good boy when his dad not round..and will sitt with m and do is home work...all he what to do is play games morring to night...any way i hope some one can help with with and how i can make it fun home work time...and tack the games way.. ty so much for the help...

I hate school because I'm much more interested in art and don't see the purpose in doing all this work in other subjects I don't care about and won't help me in the career I want. I don't put much effort because I don't care, not because I'm just plain lazy! I work very hard on the things I DO care about and wish that the school system didn't force you to study things against your will.

You probably don't know Brazil schools. Man, they are worst than you imagine! The teachers don't care if you know or not, just fuck you up whenever they can. They "teach" only stupid things and just talk about the fucking college entrance exams. I'm complete pissed off and i'm still in the first year. Great, isn't it? You can't breath, you can't say your opinions. Freedom of Expression, where are you?

Oh, yeah. The public schools in this county are like jungles. Think about it.

i dont know why people ask why does a lot of kids hate school the answer is simple because they dont like what they are learning you schould be learning what you wanna learn not been force to learn some crab like biology or history

I loved school when I was younger (in elementary) because my teachers were able to spark my imagination. But the MAIN reason why I didn't hate it was because my mom read a lot of books to me when I was a toddler and in preschool. She made books fun- which many people hate.

I see many parents who don't read to their children. If you read books and set aside time everyday when they are young and make it fun, school won't be such a pain to withstand.

I fuckin hate school my thoughts don't count my fingers ace of tests I hate learning French and just writing it instead of speaking it. They don't let you talk eat or even let you go to the bathroom. I'm now 13 and am fed up with this bullshit, I don't raise my hand and ask my parents may I use the bathroom. I also hate staying still I hate sitting next to the window looking out seeing the birds fly so freely while I'm trapped in this hell hole. The teachers violate your space give you stupid worthless projects and then you learn nothing. I have learned more from tv, scince I watch these shows about interesting things and there discovery channel or history. I say I wish I was doing that. My teachers are retarded they learn what there teaching a day before we learn it. I lose sleep because of early waking up days for majority of my week. After 7 hours I don't want to drag back home 3 hours worth of home work. I can't bear the stupidity I face on a daily basis you adults should be in here seeing the bullshit that they say you all are careless ignorant greedy pigs who have no respect for people like me. I'm not stupid I read I write, I even know about stocks politicians and economy and I take great intrest in these. Give me a 1 week course on a job and il be ready to work. If I had my own country I would actually listen to the people of tomorrow the children the teens we deserve our voice in this,if I had a country you would start at 6 learn to reAd and write no sitting around, and have fun with young students then over the tv they would stay at home and continue learning and practising learning reading writing. Then you come back at 9 learn for a year with 1 week off every month with no homework and lots of art and gym. Then you come back at 12 and pick a feild like medic or artist etc. Then you study it for 3 years with school only on mon tuesday and wedsday only 4hours and you get the rest off then at age 15 you go threw 3 more years of a spicific single job like doctor artist cop, then you study for 3 years with the same schedule the same ways when you where 12 then when your 18 bam! Your being paid as stress free and fun and quick and efficient way to make a healthy citizen. The leaders today are retards i would make a way better leader, because I know what respect honor and care means unlike all who appose me. Some people are just to stupid. Change the system before 2012, I'm organizing events if this isn't met. This is a world wide call we can change, but the again we are humans with greedy minds and empty souls right? Or can we change?

I hatee school like all my life i had pushover teachers. Like you cant even learn cuz some students are disrespectful. I cant even use the bathroom in my school. Then they wonder why i dont come to school. I have this teacher with a bad attitude like come onn. Then if we have fun classes the shit is a short class. I dont know what to do anymore school is getting on my last nerve. Im trying to hang in thier but i just want to give up.

You all are examples of why education is important. You are too fucking stupid, because you have teenage brains, to understand the big picture. You hate school because all you want to do is what you want to do. This is called narcicism. Teenagers are narcicists, who just want to jack off all day, play video games, or blow shit up. You won't think this way when you are 30, you'll just be pissing and moaning on how your life sucks. The kids who will be productive and successful adults aren't wasting their time pissing and moaning on this shitty, whiny little fucked up site. Do America a favor and kill yourselves now.

You're the one who's retarded, adults like you think that if we don't like school, its a sin. The 30year-old adults you say complain about their lives, their complaining on how they wasted their time in school, and in college. Why the fuck are you even on this website anyways if you think school is so "good" for us!

You're an example of a whiny moany adult that thinks all teenagers are bad. Do yourself a favor and realise that it's nothing but a stereotype, not all teenagers are like that. If you are an adult, then you're not very mature for going onto a website you don't like and then adding a comment saying how "stupid" we all are. It makes you look like a desperate little brat seeking attention. While I do agree school is a good way of having early experience of the harsh reality of today, I still think spending 12 years there is rediculus, let alone having to cope with moody teachers and being surrounded by a load of stupid little children that just make fun of you.
Oh, and it's "you're", not "your", that's the "your" as in it belongs to you.

FUCK YOU you damn hypocrite practice what you preach you complained about school when you were a kid didn't you?!?!? or were you one of those suck-up tattle-tale teachers-pets who never understood why all of the other kids hated him

Ha ha, you're just begging for attention, you idiot. You don't even have basic writing skills. As the average teen, I and the teen above me are probably smarter in every way than you. By the way, it's "You all ARE retarded" not "Youallretarded" dumbfuck. And if you hate this website so much why are you on it? I don't think adults are any smarter than teens. Not the way some adults act these days. Lol, we're not stupid and we don't sit around blowing shit up and videogaming. A teenage brain is probably smarter than yours. I think the only favor America needs right now is for your to go blow yourself up. Look at some of these articles, at the big difference smart teens are making. What do you do? You sit around on your fat adult ass all day and yell at us. Lol, you're just another example of how fatass grown-ups are trying to abuse and brainwash the smart youth of America. Teenagers are smart, sensitive, kind, and bold. Adults like you are hypocrites, stupid, cynical, whiny, and above all, dumbfucks. Have a nice day, jackass

Hey to that fucker adult, you're just another example of why adults are fucking stupid. We're not whining we're making a difference. You're just someone who's trying to manipulate children. Adults piss and moan at kids, whine at them when they don't do what adults want, yell at them and supress independant thought to make them another blank slate to write on. You're dumb. You're also fucked if the only thing you have to do is sit around screaming at kids for not "obeying orders" you moron

i have been held back by my school as the teachers hate me. i took a iQ test a online one i scored
152 just to check i told my mother to have a go she scored 108 im not even in top group apparently i dont try hard , and my 'behavior' is crap i output everyone in my class.i was once refused food by
a teacher at lunch time she wouldent let me into the cafatirier (cant spell that well) so i whent without i am the only well liked 'smart' person in my hole year.

eg im funny tall strong smart ugly and when i get angry i could probably smash someones face in but im still not the fighting type.

What's really bad about school is the teachers, a bad teacher can ruin a subject for everyone, and most teachers only have the job because they can't have any other. Heck, most teachers don't even like children! Also, most adults are miserable because they had to go to school for half their lives and then had to get a job they don't care about, my point? School just makes people miserable. Children can also get their hands on drugs, alchohol and ciggarettes. So is school a good idea? OF COURSE NOT!

I am an 11 year old that experiences the hell they call a place of educational value. They somehow think that through all the boring textbooks, studies, and lectures they can somehow make a way to have fun. My response: People this mentally insane exist? School is a trap. Every single one focuses only on fooling parents into thinking that their school is the best and gets better grades, thus trapping the child. They say it is Video Games and technology to blame, but really, it's not. Think about it, many apps and gaming devices have some kind of brain-trainer, like the many hard levels of Cut the Rope. But just because the idea seems relatively stupid to them, they cut it off and call it "unimaginative" but it is perfectly imaginative. What makes kids not want to go to school? EVERYTHING. The seven hour-no, wait, EIGHT hour period that involves some of the most boring and ridiculous shit ever created. They think sitting with no exercise reading uninteresting books is going to help? It is not. And when the topic does get interesting, they always get rid of that factor with an assignment that actually follows them INTO their home and takes away time for doing good and more important things, like maybe sports or TAKE A FUCKING BREAK. Kids are being weighed down by this, but adults always say "OOOHHH, poor YOU. Especially since you never got PADDLED." They still act like their school years were harder, but as much as we plead to explain to them why it isn't, they act like we are shit. Literally. If we constantly moan about how horrible it is, they still never seem to realize that this is taking a toll on us. And we might have these good grades now, but if we don't turn into a school football freak who plays the sport because of the exercise less 8 hour period who soon strives for popularity by finding a "girlfriend" at age 10, we become nothing. We just become the group of kids that never did anything good in their lives because we didn't pay attention in school. But that is what we did. We actually paid attention to how everybody there was either a bossy prick or depressed to the maximum. School is corrupt. And if you hate it as much as I do, then you are not alone. We just have to speak up.

So I might be posting this 3 years later but as a matter of fact I dislike how school is bring taught. We sit in a chair for (depending on the school) 6-8 hours. We are TOLD what to know, we are taught how to be successful in an unsuccessful manner. How can we do something productive in an industrialized society when we're being taught things on a checklist? We loose creativity through the schooling process. School could be a place where dreams come true but the way school is pushed is making kids feel POWERLESS. Maybe teachers look at kids as dumb because they cannot follow a checklist to suit "Most Citizens" but that student is smart in their own way! So what if I don't know that 45x23 is 1,035 maybe I have a better grasp on how to better the process of power (I'm not saying solar or wind it's not close to being practical yet). Even if it does have to do with math. Also we learn 4 major things: literature, history, science and math. But maybe you don't need to learn the mass of Jupiter if you are destined to be a musician. Things need to be more personalized. But then again we're taught in a way that BORES us. Get US INVOLVED! We don't just hate school we hate feeling powerless. If we can learn to make kids feel like their learning things that aren't pointless to them they'll try harder! Kids of our generation aren't whiners we have true potential but through this industrialized learning process that potential energy cannot be put in process (kinetic energy). People like to think of High School as the best time of their lives (I'm approaching that point (High School)) but in reality it wasn't that great. Our minds are underdeveloped we will do dumb things, feel stress more and sadly some suicidal thoughts. So the ones who shake their heads when they hear "I hate school!" Or look at it as sin to hear "I wish homework was never invented" need to realize modern education isn't working very well. We need a better approach, one that will help us make a better tomorrow. Be stereotypical about our behavior is NOT helping. We need a process in which we feel like we have purpose, freedom and aren't dumb or lazy. Another problem at our sage instead of helping we Worsen the problem by thinking "We know everything!" Any child that thinks that is DEAD WRONG. But that doesn't mean us kids should be thrown under the bus being called morons us adults are superior. Now we may lack things but WE have the power to drive tomorrow. A 13 year old speaking to the world. PLEASE FIX TODAY'S ISSUES BY FIXING THE WAY WE LOOK AT EDUCATION!